killers of al qaeda. late weapons, the white house bowed to growing political pressure and agreed to hand over those documents to congress. senator dianne feinstein says lawmakers should know what brenin knew and when he knew it. she released a statement saying in part, it is critical for the committee's oversight function to fully understand the legal basis for all intelligence and counter terrorism operations. in a speech last summer, brennen said the use of drone strikes by the u.s. has turned al qaeda into a, quote, shadow of once was. under president obama, the program has used to take out more than 400 targets in pakistan and the middle east. we'll continue to watch that. potential cuts to the defense department budget are causing changes in the military operation. the pentagon says it will reduce

the naval presence sense in the persian gulf. the uss harry trumman to head to the gulf has been canceled. defense secretary leon panetta warns under the automatic cuts, pentagon workers could face additional cuts. vice president joe biden choked up after speaking about the recent tragedy at sandy hook. >> when people tell me that you can't prevent these kinds of occurrences, that doesn't mean we can't do something to god forbid if it happens again, diminish the carnage. it matters. it matters. >> biden may have been made an emotional appeal to house democrats last night, urging them to support the oh bam in administration's gun control agenda as the vice president recounted specific examples of 1600 gun related deaths that

december day to remind his audience as their obligation as lawmakers to act and on the political consequences of backing controversial gun legislation, biden argued, i promise you, times have changed. this morning, the los angeles times is reporting that heads will roll at the l.a. county office. as many as seven deputies have been told they'll be fired for belonging to a secret clique called the jumpout boys. members allegedly celebrate police involved in shootings. on wednesday, the former white house author says she worries new jersey governor chris christie might die in office if elected president. this is how the fiery governor responded. >> this is another person who wants five minutes on tv. >> the governor has been outspoken about his own weight in the past and even joked about it on the "late show" with david letterman this week, but he didn't find anything funny about mariano' comments. >> it's completely

irresponsible, completely irresponsible. i have four children between 9 and 19. i have my children, my 12-year-old son comes to me last night and says, dad, are you going to die? if she wants to get on a plane and come here to new jersey and ask me if she wants to examine me and review my medical history, i'll have a conversation with her about that. until that time, they should shut up. whether you live in the northeast or travel aing across the country, there's a snowstorm that is a whooper. there are as many as two feet of snow forecast in some areas and an icy mix in other. meteorologist bill karins is here to discuss it. >> soon hundreds of flights will be canceleded as we get closer to this event. there's two storms, one in the northern plains and one that's along the gulf coast. they're all going to meet as we go along the next 24 hours along the eastern seaboard as we go through a blizzard. it doesn't include the new york city area, but it does include almost all of southern new

england. the blizzard watches are out here. again, 75-mile-per-hour winds with two feet of snow on the ground. just picture the blowing snow and the storm surge could be anywhere up to 3 to 6 feet. we're going to deal with houses getting battered by waves and unfortunately probably some destruction, too, here especially along the cape cod beaches. the official forecast calls for 18 to 24 inches in boston. even be boston standards, this is a historic storm. new york city will get freezing rain and rain mixing. that's why their total he are a lot less. as we return to the west coast, you dealt with your own storm that moves on shore in the theft. mostly rain, high elevation snow. this cold front is swinging down now through northern california with showers in the north of san francisco. this storm system is going to swell out, bringing unsettled weather to california as we go throughout the tail end of this week. here is a look at the radar. snow in the high elevations of the cascades and that showery weather that we typically get

has already moved through. the precipitation amounts are light. not today inthere's not much of temperature difference, but you will notice the lowering of snow elevations. again, the northeast historic storm. not as bad as sandy, but there will be damage. >> it will be a big one. look for the cascading effect of all the flights going east and west. the ten most disliked athletes in america. and outraged at what some are calling a racist frat party at duke university. we'll show you the pictures. plus, the thrill of victory and the agony of racing up 1,576 steps of the empire state building. "early today" back in two

welcome back. stories making news this morning. new sanctions against iran go into effect today. the obama administration is targing the country's state broadcaster and internet policing agency. economic sanctions enacted last summer have also been triggered. washington hopes the move will force tehran to halt its nuclear program. police in southern california are on the hunt for a man who used to be one of their own. former lapd officer christopher dorner is wanted in connection to a double hospital. the cal state basketball coach and is her fiancee were found shot to death sunday night. some students at duke university say the kappa sigma fraternity went too far in throwing an asian-themed party. an invitation to the party was written in broken english and included a reference to kim jong il. members of duke's asian student association are protesting what they call a, quote, racist rager.

beginning in august, the post office will no longer deliver mail on saturdays. however, your packages will still show up in your mailbox. post office locations will remain open. it's expected to save the cash-strapped agency about $2 billion annually. there's new research out that pinpoints the time and day of the week when a come looks her worst. i'm not kidding. drum roll. wednesday afternoon at 3:30 has been precising identified as the time when a woman's energy levels drop and stress levels peak. they say hump day was the worst. to that i say thank goodness it's thursday. whew. in health news, researchers have discovered the first u.s. cases of whooping cough caused by a germ that may be vaccine resistant. the first cases reported in france, japan and finland. the cdc is saying the u.s. had nearly 42,000 cases of whooping cough last year with at least 18

fatalities, the most in six decades. "early today" health is brought to you by vagisil, bring yourself back. a very big deal up in the air is sure to get wall street's attention this morning. according to "the wall street journal," american airlines parent amr and us airways are hashing out the final details of a major merger. if that deal does get done, the new company would be the world's largest airline. meanwhile, keep an eye on boeing, the ntsb will deliver an update on its dreamliner investigation in washington this morning. the planemaker says it's working on design changes to the light yumm ion batteries used in its 787 dreamliners in hopes of getting the grounded jets back this the air. on wednesday, federal regulators told being it could resume one test flight with a crew, but no pags engineers. yahoo! took off in late news it struck an advertising deal with rival google. home depot is hiring 80,000 seasonal workers in the spring. that's 10,000 more hires than last year. listen up, if you're one of

the millions of americans answering work e-mails at home. a case is moving forward in chicago fought bay cop who claims he and fellow officers are owed overtime pay for scanning e-mails on their blackberrys. after ten years, apple has reached a new milestone. 25 billion songs have now been purchased on itunes. a customer in germany will receive a gift card worth more than $13,000 for the lucky download of "monkey drums." incredibly, about 15,000 songs are downloaded on itunes each and every minute. coffee lovers in new delhi rejoiced when starbucks opened a flagship store in the capital. hasboro has let the cat out of the bag. the iron is out as a monopoly game piece and the cat is in. and fast food chains are cashing in on lower calorie menu offerings which push same-store sales up by 5%. meanwhile, one mcdonald's australia is testing out table

service cleat with china, glassware and cutlery. and americans plan to spend more on valentine's day than last year. a man, 85 bucks and a woman, 48. it's always been expensive to be wealthy in california. but now millionaires are staring head on at a federal state income tax of 51.9%. and you guessed it, it is the highest in the nation. one saving grace for the moment, californians can deduct state tax from federal returns. up next, your "early today" sports highlights. plus, meet a nasty nanny whose pension for slapping this kid just got her slapped by the law.

and now to some other stories that caught our eyes this morning. in new york, disturbing video shows a nanny slapping a 9-month-old for not eating. when the mother saw what was going on, she rushed home .fired the caretaker who has been charged with endangering the well fare of a child and resisting arrest. in texas, 22-year-old grad student and chicken farmer has grown so close to his flock over the years, he's known around as chicken boy. he's handled the chickens for so long, he's even picked up the language. >> it's like i just laid an egg in this box, come lay your egg. and it's --

>> the chicken boy plans to go and continue his education so he can some day become doctor chicken and that's going to be interesting. a fatal pileup on a georgia highway left four dead and 27 others injuries. four vehicles were involved including a tanker which caught fire. and finally in new york, two australians took top places racing to the empire state building. runners from 18 countries sped up to 58 stories with more than 1500 steps. winners had impressive times of 10 and 12 minutes each. in sports, another big upset in college basketball. number five kansas stufrd a second straight loss as texas christian got 17 points from garlon green. tcu held on for its first win ever against the top five team. 62-55 there over kansas and the home team fans celebrated by rushing the court as time ran out. congratulations. in world cup qualifying soccer, the u.s. gave up a goal in the 79th minute to honduras and lost 2-1. next, they will travel home to colorado to take on costa rica in the ten-game tournament that

will be played through october. u.s. skier ted ligety won the super-g in austria finishing the course in just under 1:24. lance armstrong has been given a two-week extension to possibly work out an agreement to cooperate with the anti-doping agency. the agency is looking for full details on armstrong's blood doping and drug use to win seven tour de france titles. and a rare baseball card has been auctioned off for $92,000. it shows a photograph of the brooklyn atlantics amateur baseball club. the 148-year-old card was found at a yard sale in maine. just ahead, kim kardashian is packing serious heat. we've got the pictures. plus, a 7-year-old from alabama takes on one of the military's biggest battles. you'll meet him next on "early today."

welcome back. our storm that is moving into areas now of southern portions of canada has dragged that front through. we are going to continue with showery-type weather. temperatures holding in the mid 40s, though. not a lot of heavy rain. snow showers near boise not a big deal. eventually some of the showers on the front near san francisco will try to sneak through, but we're not calling for a lot of wet weather. what happens is that the upper level low will cut itself down and drop through southern california. when that happens this time of year, we can get isolated showers and thunderstorms. we'll watch that tomorrow.

more interesting weather for you in southern cal. >> then they'll have to look out for mudslides. thank you, bill karins. well, kim kardashian's ongoing divorce just got a whole lot uglier. the mother to-be is reportedly asking for a speedy split saying, quote, i don't want to be married to kris humphries when i have my baby. humphries' lawyers say she's just using her apparently unplanned pregnancy to speed things along and that they are far from a settlement. in our kim news, this photo of a diamond encrusting gun appearing and quickly disappearing from her twitter account after followers lashed out about recent gun violence. across the pond british prime minister david cameron has auctioned off a meet and greet with justin bieber. just one problem, the biebs had no idea this was happening. the winning bid came in at $15,000. money that is supposedly going towards campaign funds here. somebody goofed up because he didn't even know what was happening. do you like this list here? this list is from forbes. they just released the most disliked athletes in america. tiger woods there making the

list thanks to the many women in his life. man at this te'o got a spot thanks to the make believe woman in his life. and lance armstrong easily to the front of the pack to become america's most disliked athlete. were you surprised to see jay cutler? >> and a-rod. >> he's had his troubles in chicago and then there was the whole text thing where he proposed via text message. >> and neon deion is saying, thank you, i'm no longer in the running. >> he's almost squeaky clean now that he's on tv. >> and you have to do that. this next one comes to us from wafs in huntsville, alabama. one little boy is shedding bright hope on a dark topic. 7-year-old john murray jr. was with his mom in an army facility where he noticed posters about

suicide prevention. after learning what they meant, he launched his own campaign. the message is clear, anyone who wants help will get it. they just have to ask. bright kid. i'm richard lui, and this is "early today," just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station.

well, no one is keeping a closer eye on the countdown to the 2014 winter olympics than sochi, russia. the town is buzzing with the sound of construction as crews put together the remarkable stadiums and venues for winter sports. costs are already over $50 billion, four times the 2007 estimates. some venues are complete and

ready for their trial runs on ice. they have the cold weather to do it right now. and auction in france seemed tailored for car enthusiasts and history buffs alike. cars and bikes filled the famed pierre hall in paris. this plane may seem familiar to film fans. the famed yellow plane from oscar winner "out of africa." cars from the turn of the century and 20th century from the 1990s are featured here. >> finally, this little four-legged friend looking for a new home. little 2-year-old tonik is getting a lot of attention after thinks foster family posted this adoption and online. >> freaky. >> yeah, it is, kind of. many say the dog has a human face. >> it looks photo shopped. >> it does. altered even more. especially look at the eyes. while he was a mixed breed, he comes from poodle and shih tzu parentage. no human that we know of. >> he has the big head on the little body, too.

>> it's right there that gets it. time for a look ahead and day in history. president obama will take part in the national prayer breakfast in washington this morning. last year, the president said he relies on his faith and values to guide him day-to-day. the senate armed services committee will hold a hearing. on the september 11th attack on the american consulate in benghazi. secretary of defense leon panetta and the joint chiefs of staff are scheduled to testify there. and on this day in 1964, the beatles were met by thousands of screaming fans as this made their first appearance on u.s. soil. the british rock and roll band had just landed the number one hit with u.s. charts with "i want to hold your hand." all day long you can stay on top of the very latest developments on those stories and the best political analysis on msnbc. and tonight, be sure to watch "nbc nightly news" with brian williams. and, finally, here's a look at what's coming up later this morning on the "today" show. the mom and pop sensation, speaking of which, justin bieber gets candid about singing,

celina gomez and her son hosting snl this weekend. they're in love. and breast cancer, raising awareness for cancer and what it means to be beautiful. now keep it on this channel for continuing local news, sports and more. i'm richard lui. thanks for watching "early today." just your first stop of the day today on your nbc station. have a good thursday.

that breaking news, three officers shot this morning in southern california. police think they were shot by this man, christopher jordan dorner. he is a former los angeles police officer. police think he's upset because he was recently fired from the police force.

dorner has been on the run since yesterday. that's when police say he shot and killed a college basketball coach and her fiance. police say one of the victims was the daughter of a los angeles police captain. this morning officers say dorner was involved in three shootouts with police. one in corona, two in riverside. in each instance, an officer was hit. one suffered a graze wound. two others suffered more severe injuries and their conditions right now are not known. >> a serious situation there. we will keep you posted on that one. good morning, everybody. 4:31. i'm jon kelley. >> i'm laura garcia-cannon. a lot to get to this morning. let's check the forecast as well. rain on the way, christina. >> good morning to you. we have showers on the radar as we speak. starting to move into the northern most portion of sonoma county. most of the bay area we'll have to wait for this rain. however, i want you to be aware cold front on the way. things are going to change dramatically. dress for the showers ahead. grab that umbrella. and stick around.